Dark Uprising
by RanChan
Summary: The world of Lunar has long had a sense of peace, since the defeat of Zophar the dark god of Destruction. As Jenna and her companions begin a journy for treasure, other, darker forces descend upon Lunar. How is Jenna tied to Lunar's fate?
1. The Darkest Night

**The Darkest Night**

"I looked to the night sky, the time had finally come. This would be the beginning of events that'd soon forever change the fate of Lunar. Darkness had engulfed my world on this night, filling it with evil and ill intent. I could feel the darkness, taste it, the intoxication was quite fulfilling to me. I knew that tonight was the unholy night in which the world of Lunar would change forever. As I stepped outside into the darkness, I could feel it permiate throughout my entire being, I could sense the evil in the air. It had begun, my descent into darkness, from which I could never return. I took my sword in hand and strapped it's scabbard at my side. Then, with one final, longing gaze, I left what had been my home of 20 years, my entire life, to begin my journey. I started down the path of darkness that would lead either to the destruction of Lunar, or my death."

* * *

The years that had passed since that fateful night had briefly given way to peace upon the lavish world of Lunar. The people began to remember the night of darkness as a fading memory, a myth to pass into the ages. That night had, in the five years since it occured, become little more then a taboo legend of old that few ever spoke of. One such person, a young woman, no taller then average with flowing silver hair, still remembered that night. How could she forget? That was the night she bore witness to the death of her mother, who had spent the last years of her life waiting patiently for the husband who never returned. The girl kep the memory of her mother's death close to her heart, little realizing that her story was about to begin.

"Jenna? Where are you Jenna? That girl, I swear she'd fall off the face of Lunar if no one were here to look after her." The voice, high, shrill, and very childlike came from what appeared nothing more then a large, yellow tabby fitted with a pair of unusual, yet functional fur covered wings. It's voice had silently passed through the wooded area outside of the Meribian city limits rather silently.

"Up here, where else would I be?" The succulently, nearly saccharine voice replied from above. The source dropped from the tree landing behinf the small winged cat, her silver hair almost as if in slow motion falling lifelessly to her back as she landed, and stared at him with bright, sapphire eyes. The red cloak she wore about her made absolutely no movement about her body as she landed. "Was something the matter Demos?"

The feline companion quietly shook his head as he turned mid-flight and positioned himself to land upon the girls shoulder with a smile. "Genn and I were worried about you Jenna. You never came back for dinner."

"What? It's already that late?" She blinked for a moment before she took off running, the breeze of her movement billowing out in her cloak which sprung to life at her movements. The poor yellow kitten upon her shoulder had to struggle with everything he had to hang on.

As they neared the campsite, the familiar smell of Genn's cooking caught Jenna's nose, just as the man in question caught site of her. His low, raspy, almost ancient voice was soft, kind, endearing, qualities that described Genn to the best detail. "You're late Jenna, darling. If you were any later, I'd have tossed the rest of the soup."

"I'm sorry Genn, I was just preoccupied, thinking about mom." She sighed slightly as she again looked up at the sky, staring intently at the Blue Star.

Genn, a rather burly man, with short, raven black hair and a rugged, unkempt beard, smiled softly as he approached the young girl and placed an arm around her. He appeared much older then her, but he had known Jenna since well before she could remember, and had been more a father to her then the man who her mother had died waiting for. "Tis never right to dwell on the past lass. You're mother, rest her soul, would have wanted you to move on, you know."

"Yeah, I know that, but I miss her." She looked towards the older man who had handed her a small bowl with the last of the night's soup. "It's just, I feel she had something to tell me that she never had the chance to."

"Cheer up Jenna, these things all happen for a reason." The cat on her shoulder chirped in as he nuzzled against her face, inciting a giggle from the silver hair child. "Besides, your mother would never have let you come on this trip with Genn and I."

"Little one's got a point ya know lass." Genn smiled as he worked at cleaning the campsite. "Now then, finish eating and get in the wagon, it's about time we got to moving again. The treasure won't wait forever you know."

She smiled softly looking at the older man then returning to her soup. Genn always had a way with words that could melt her heart and make her simply happy to still be alive. True to his word, as soon as she finished eating, the wagon had begun to move. Jenna was inside and had slowly lulled off into a peaceful sleep.

"Jenna..." peaceful was relative, her dreams still haunted her, visions she believed. She had had that same dream night after night for a few years now. "Lunar's fate... Jenna... Remember..."

Jenna shot up from her mattress in the wagon in shock. That same dream had come to her again, visions of Lunar's destruction, the four dragons, the goddess, and a man, one who's face she couldn't see clearly, yet somehow she could tell she knew him. She shook her head to clear the cobwebs and poked her head out of the wagon to notice the early morning sun bearing down on them. "Where are we?"

"Oh, you're awake lass." Genn chuckled a bit and handed her a banana he had picked a few miles earlier during the morning stop as they had passed a river. "We're a few miles yet till Taban's Peak, but we'll get there soon enough."

"Any idea what we'll find there?" From atop Genn's head came the familar voice of a yellow kitten, who decided it was time to move and did so by flapping his wings and hovering to Jenna's shoulder with his usualy cat-like smile. "I sure hope it's something valuable, or something with a lit of power in it. Oh, or fish, definately fish."

Jenna sighed and shook her head as she moved to sit next to Genn, and rubbed Demos's chin. "No, I have a feeling we'll find something more."

"You feeling ok lass? You don't sound your usual self" Genn briefly took his eyes from the path to look after his adopted daughter with concern. He'd known her long enough to have developed a sense for things like this.

"It's, I had that dream again, something about it bothers me." She sighed and peeled her banana. Her mind swam with thoughts of what it might mean, her dream, that strange feeling about Taban's peek, that empty hole her mother's death had left her with. "It's no matter. I'll figure it out someday, but thanks for worrying Genn."

"It's what I'm here for child." Genn smiled at her and then blinked in confusion as he returned his gaze to the path. "Woah" He ripped at the reigns to stop the horses, managing to halt the wagon only a few feet from running over a pile of brightly hued yellow and red cloth.

Before either Genn, Jenna, or Demos could say anything, a group of Ratlike creatures sprung from the bushes all around them, and from a tree above them dropped a rather tall man, very reptilian in appearence. His voice hissed as he spoke. "Who daresss enter my realm? Thissss land belongssss to me." The darkish, almost yellow cloak about him seemed to come to life as it spread open into his wings. "You foolssss, you will die here." At that moment, he drew a sword from his size, ant the rat creatures began to charge.

Genn glared at the lizardlike creature as he jumped from the wagon and pulled his rather large war axe from his back. "Damn, a Draconian with Ratites, Jenna, you and Demos deal with the Ratites, I'll handle the Draconian." He had already begun spinning his axe in his hands as he landed and drove the massive blade into the ground as the dragon-like creature flapped it's wings to avoid the attack.

Jenna hopped out of the wagon as she grabbed her scimitar. "Got ya old man. Darkness into light, and cold into flame, guide Althena's power eternally untamed. Holy Flame!" Her blade burst into white-hot flames as she landed and slashed at on of the Ratites. She was a few feet too far to connect with her scimitar itself, however the flame of light radiating off of the sword flickered in an arc from the blade and danced into the rat-like creature who burst into flames which arced from it into the two rats on either side of it. A moment passed as all three ceased burning and fell over dead.

The remaining ratites charged at Jenna. Demos had opened his mouth and managed to blast one with a golden beam of light that left a hole completely through the side of the creature, but five of the creatures were still on the charge towards Jenna.

Genn and the Draconian continued to cross axe and braodsword, the lizard-like creature remaining solely on the defensive, and Genn simply overpowering it with his strength. "You're pretty good lizard, try this on for size." Genn stepped off his assault for a moment, allowing the Draconian a chance to ragain it's footing. As the lizard readied for it's attack Genn slammed the head of his axe into the ground, energy passing through his hands into the blade. A moment later the Draconian charged, only to be impaled upon a giant spike of rock that had shot up from the ground.

Jenna had managed to finish off most of the Ratites still attacking her, using her swordsmanship and magic to even the uneven odds. Demos was too exausted from his one attack to be much help and sat upon the wagon recovering his power. As Jenna delivered the deathblow to the fourth Ratite, she failed to notice the fifth that had lept at her from behind, extending it's lethal dewclaw to slash at the base of her skull. Genn had turned his attention to Jenna after slaying the Draconian, but he was too far, and too slow to get to Jenna in time. "Jenna, look out!"


	2. A Golden Hero

A Golden Hero

An explosion rang out through Taben's Peak. The Ratite that had charged at Jenna fell lifelessly to the ground in several bloddied pieces as the girl had just turned in a last second chance to avoid the attack. She was stunned, her scimitar dropping to the ground with a clang as she turned her attention to the source of the explosion. What she saw was what had been a pile of yellow, red, and orange on the ground before their wagon a few moments earlier. Only, in it's current form, it was a young man, holding what appeared to be a long, metallic object, shaped similar to a stick, though with an obvious amount of detail. The man wore a deep, crimson flowing cloak, yellow tunic, boots, and gloves with orange sleeves and pants. His golden hair settled in the light breeze, and a claidmore was strapped at an angle along his back. He was knelt, in what would be a rifle firing position as Jenna stood in awe of him and his strange weapon.

"You are unhurt, correct Madam?" He stood and took a moment to strap the odd weapon against his back, smiling gently at Jenna as he did so. He finished working with the object and approached Jenna slowly, as she hadn't moved since he spoke. "Madam?"

"Hey Jenna, thank the lad, you'd have been ratfood had he not done whatever it is he did." Genn chuckled slightly as he placed his axe against his back as well and headed over to the awestruck young girl. "Lass? You still in there?" He shook his head and looked at the young man with another chuckle. "Seems she's frozen laddy."

Jenna blinked her eyes for a moment, then finally knelt down to grab her sword, and sheath it at her side before looking at the rather flamboyant young man and nodding. "Th-thank you sir." The slight red tint on her cheeks would give away either embarassment from being saved from a situation she was helpless, being in that helpless situation in the first place, or from the fact that this young man was perhaps the most attractive man she'd seen in her life. She would never tell the real reason for that slight blush however, and would likely throttle anyone who mentioned it. "Weren't you the one injured in the road though?"

The young man laughed slightly as he approached Jenna with a smile. "My lady, your concern for my well-being touches my heart. No, I am unwounded, you simply caught me before I had awakened from a peaceful night's sleep." He smiled, a charming smile that could steal a womans heart quite quickly.

Genn chuckled and patted the young man's shoulder with a rather stern, father-like smile that gave warning of murderous intent should he persue his current path much longer. "The middle of the road is not the place to sleep young lad, though, I thank you for saving Jenna's life. What do you call that strange magic rod you used? I don't think I've ever seen anything like it."

The young man nervously stepped away from Genn, and with good reason, the forboding aura of impending doom that radiated from him was rather apparent, at least to anyone with a sense of masculinity. He recomposed himself and looked back at Jenna, earning another rather devilish glare from Genn, before he opened his mouth to speak again. "This, it's an ancient weapon from the Blue Star, it's called a Rifle. I was surprised it was still in working condition when I found it, and the documents I found with it taught me how to create pellets so that I can use it."

Genn nodded looking the rifle over a bit as he circled the young man. "I see, an ancient weapon you say. So tell me boy, you have a name, or do I continue to call you lad?"

Jenna took a few steps closer as well, she and Genn had been avid treasure hunters for years, and any ancient artifact was well worth taking a look at. This one in particular, being an ancient weapon, an obviously powerful one at that, seemed like an object the Magic Guild of Vane would love to examine. On that note, the magic guild meant money, and lots of it at that. Jenna grinned as she reached a hand out to touch the rifle, only to have it slapped away by Genn.

The young man looked warily at the pair as he rubbed the back of his head and pulled his cloak around the rifle to conceal it from view. "My name is Aguinar. I am known as the Golden Bolt of the Heavens, the hero who will save Lunar from the approaching darkness. And who might you be?"

Genn shook his head, either the boy was delusional, or somehow just not right in the head, spouting off useless titles that meant nothing, and likely had never been heard anywhere across the lands of Lunar. "Aguinar was it lad? I am Genn, a treasure hunter, this young lady is my apprentice, Jenna, and the yellow cat over on our wagon is Demos."

Demos's head popped up as he glared at Genn for a moment. "I'm not a cat you idiot,"

Jenna chuckled slightly as she patted Demos's head, illiciting a slight purr from him. "He does have a point, according to historical texts, Hiro, the hero who defeated Zophar, and Dragonmaster Alex both had similar creatures traveling with them, and they both turned out to be dragons. Who knows, this little guy might be a member of the dragon tribe as well."

"It doesn't matter Jenna, he looks like a cat, acts like a cat, eats like a cat, I'll call him what I want. Now, get the wagon prepped, we can't dawdle about too long, we have treasure to find." Genn turned his attention back to Aguinar for a moment before he moved back towards the wagon. "You should get a move on too lad. Thanks for your help, but the road is a dangerous place to sleep."

"Thanks for the advice Genn, actually, would it be too much trouble to travel with you to the next city, you know, as a repayment for helping you?" Aguinar smiled softly and looked at the wagon, a comfortable place to sleep, an obvios store of food, things he'd neglected to bring with him on the journey, as evidenced by the rumbling in his stomach.

Jenna chuckled and gave Genn a sweetly smile, and puppy dog eyes, a look he could never turn down. "Alright, you can come with us, but only as far as Meribia. But, while you're with us, you are going to work, and you will help us in our hunt." Genn stepped up into the driver's seat of the wagon as he looked at the golden clad warrior. "Now, get on, we're not staying her any longer."

Aguinar nodded in agreement as he hopped into the back of the wagon, where Jenna was already preparing a small meal. It wouldn't be too bad, this side trip from his journy, at least, he couldn't imagine it being bad. Afterall, he had shelter, food, and the company of the beautiful young Jenna for at least four more days before they could make it to port city. Aguinar smiled inwardly to himself, for now, things were going his way, and he couldn't possibly be happier.

Several hours of travelling had passed when the wagon arrived at the ruins of Taban's peak. The place hosted the home of the Dragon Riders, a group that had in historic times, had a different name, and consisted of orphans raised by the white dragon, Nall. The Dragon Riders still took orphans in, however, the adult members dedicated themselves to the sword, hoping to one day protect the world of Lunar in time of crisis, or die in an attempt to do so. Genn himself had been a Dragon Rider in his youth, and as such, was the only treasure hunter offered permission to rummage through the ruins of Taban's Peak.

"Tis been way too long since I been back home, aye lass?" He smiled taking in the sights and sounds of the compound and ruins, as he brought the wagon to a halt. He stepped down off the wagon and greeted a pair of guards into the ruins with a smile. After exchanging pleasantries with his former comrades, he moved to a gate leading to the ruins and waited. "You three coming, we haven't got all day."

Jenna loved the ruins of Taban's Peak, it was one of the rare places that she could see a different side of Genn, a more child-like side that only surfaced in his old home. She gathered her excavation pack, and handed Genn's to Aguinar as Demos landed on her shoulder. "You might want to hurry, Genn get's impatient here. The Dragon Rider's boss found a new room in the ruins and wanted us to check them out."

Aguinar shrugged as he put the excavation pack against his back and followed Jenna. "Fine fine, but do we have to work so soon, we just got here, shouldn't we eat lunch first or something?"

Demos chimed in smiling at Aguinar. "Genn's too impatient here to eat, you'll have better luck around dinner time. Now quit blabbing and start moving."

An hour into their trek and they came to the room that the leader had recently discovered. The door was still sealed, and nothing Genn could do would open it. He sighed after one last attempt then stepped back to examine it more closely. There was some ancient writing on the door, and it would take Genn a while to decipher it. As he was reading and re-reading it, Jenna and Aguinar had set up a mini-camp and prepared a small snack to pass the time.

"Hey Genn, you find anything out?" Jenna smiled as she looked at her father figure.

"No, nothing yet, this isn't a language I recognize." Genn sighed as he sat on a rock, looking more closely at the writing. There was an obvious pattern, but nothing jumped out at him.

"Well, have something to eat, it'll help you think better." Jenna smiled and stood, then headed towards Genn with a small bowl of stew. As she was about to step in front of him to hand it to him, she tripped on a rock and fell against the door. The writing began to glow briefly and the door activated, slowly opening itself.

Genn blinked a bit in dismay and surprise. Jenna had always had a type of clutz-luck that seemed to always show up when needed. "I guess that's how you open it. Ok, everyone, we move in and look around."

The room was huge, like the throne-room of some long forgotten castle. In the center was a pedastal with a large blue gem in it. the rest of the room seemed rather empty, made up of support pillars, and white painted walls. The group approached the gem, the only object of true note in the room aside from the throne on the opposite wall of the door. Genn looked at the gem closely and placed his palm on it, causing it to glow with a blue light. An image of a old woman of nearly sixty years.

"Welcome travelers." The voice echoed through the room melodically. It was a beautiful voice, like that of a goddess. "I am Luna, or rather, you might know me better as Althena."


End file.
